In this visionary sequel to The Sportswriter, Richard Ford deepens his portrait of one of the most unforgettable characters in American fiction, and in so doing gives us an indelible portait of America. Frank Bascombe, in the aftermath of his divorce and the ruin of his career, has entered an "Existence Period," selling real estate in Haddam, New Jersey, and mastering the high wire act of normalcy. But over one Fourth of July weekend, Frank is called into sudden, bewildering engagement with life.
In his trio of bestselling novels - The Sportswriter, Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner-winning Independence Day, and The Lay of the Land - Richard Ford set out the zeitgeist of an entire generation, through the divining and wit of his now-famous literary chronicler, Frank Bascombe, one of the most indelible, provocative and anticipated characters in modern American literature. In Let Me Be Frank With You, Ford returns with four deftly linked Christmas stories narrated by the iconic Bascombe. Now sixty-eight, Frank resides again in the New Jersey suburb of Haddam, and has thrived - seemingly but not utterly - amidst the devastations of Hurricane Sandy. The desolations of Sandy, which left houses, shorelines and countless lives unmoored and flattened, are the perfect backdrop and touchstone for Ford - and Bascombe. With a flawless comedic sensibility and unblinking intelligence, these stories range over the full complement of universal subjects: ageing, race, loss, faith, marriage, the real estate debacle - the tumult of the world we live in. Through Bascombe - funny, profane, touching, wise, often inappropriate - we share the aspirations and sorrows, longings, achievements and failings of American life in the morning of the new century. With his trademark candour and brimming wit, Richard Ford brings Bascombe back in all his imperfect glory to say (often hilariously) what all of us are thinking but few will voice aloud.
A 74 ans, guéri d'un cancer, Frank se porte comme un charme malgré la perte de sa femme et d'un fils. Mais Paul, son fils ainé, est atteint de sclérose latérale amyotrophique, une maladie dégénérative incurable. Frank decide de l'emmener faire une viree en voiture pour visiter quelques monuments emblematiques de l'Amerique contemporaine. Un periple riche en rencontres.
Journaliste sportif accompli mais écrivain raté, Frank Bascombe vivote en solitaire dans une banlieue chic du New Jersey, doù il observe son voisinage avec une ironie débonnaire. Ce matin, comme cha
